DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Embry-Riddle women's basketball team suffered its second loss to Tampa this season, falling to the Spartans 64-47 at the ICI Center on Wednesday. The loss drops the Eagles to 9-13 overall and 7-9 in the Sunshine State Conference, while the Spartans, who are ranked 15th in the D2SIDA poll and 17th in the WBCA national poll, remain undefeated in league play at 16-0 and are 19-3 overall.

A low-scoring game saw the Blue and Gold struggle from the field connecting on just 19 of their 54 field goal attempts and three of their 15 shots from long range. On the other side of the ball, Tampa was 27-of-55 from the with 38 of their 64 points coming in the paint. 

Shelby Bischoff paced the Eagle offense with her second highest scoring total of the season of 12 points to go with seven rebounds. Sydney Jones matched Bischoff's rebounding performance with seven boards of her own to go with 10 points on the night, while Nikki Tucker finished with 11 points and five rebounds.

The Spartans did most of their damage in the first quarter, building a lead that Eagles were unable to overcome. Wednesday's game got off to a slow start with 3:20 coming off the clock before the first points of the contest were recorded. It was a three-point game until the 3:39 mark when the Spartans went on an 11-0 run to close out the first period up 18-7.

The Eagles played Tampa evenly in the second quarter with both teams tallying 13 points in that frame. The scoring difference in the second half was only seven points, but it was enough for the Spartans as they rode their first quarter success to victory.

LaShayla Wright-Pond led the way for the Spartans with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Melijah Sullivan contributed 12 points and eight boards, while Aliyah Abney contributed 14 points of the bench. 

The Eagles are back on the road this weekend, traveling to Melbourne for a 2 p.m. tip against Florida Tech on Saturday.